Hills smell quinine potential in US bid for India drug

The Darjeeling cinchona plantation, which has been tottering for years
because of lack of demand and absence of patronage from the government,
is back in the spotlight following US President Donald Trump’s call to
Prime Minister Narendra Modi for anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.

Quinine,
the world’s first-known anti-malaria drug, is derived from the barks of
the cinchona. The plant is currently grown only in Darjeeling where the
cultivation began in 1862.

Trump has asked for
hydroxychloroquine’s export from India after some health experts
included its medication to treat Covid-19 patients.

“At the start,
let us be clear. The US president has not asked for quinine. Although
hydroxychloroquine is a derivative of quinine, neither quinine nor
cinchona barks are needed to produce hydroxychloroquine which is
manufactured chemically,” Samuel Rai, director, Directorate of Cinchona
and other Medicinal Plant, told The Telegraph.

But everyone
associated with the directorate is hopeful that the spotlight on the
synthetic anti-malaria drug can turn the fortunes of the neglected
plantation. “With the US President talking about anti-malaria drug,
there is a hope that the plantation will find some relevance; it might
attract new research and policy makers might suddenly remember that
there is a cinchona plantation in the hills,” said a retired official of
the directorate.

“Proper research on this anti-malaria plant has
not taken place,” he rued, referring to the apathy towards the largest
public sector undertaking in the hills.

The plantation — spread
over 26,000 hectares at Mungpoo (set up in 1862), Munsong (1900), Rongo
(1938) and Latpanchar (1943) — incurs an annual loss of more than Rs 25
crore. Four factories to manufacture quinine and emetine at Mungpoo and
diosgenin and 16-DPA at Gairbas are currently closed.

Quinine is
produced from cinchona barks, while emetine is derived from ipecac.
Diosgenin and 16-DPA are derived from another medicinal plant dioscorea.

“The
fact that none of the factories are operational speaks volume about
lack of government focus on this industry,” said a retired employee.

Sources
said century-old quinine factory and even the three relatively new
factories did not adhere to various provisions of good manufacturing
practice guidelines and need an overhaul.

The British had
experimented with the anti-malaria drug project across India. “It was
successful only in Ooty and Darjeeling. The Tamil Nadu plantation was
shut some decades ago,” said director Rai.

At the moment, cinchona
is grown over an area of about 6,900 acres in the hills, while the rest
of the land is used for various other medicinal plants like dioscorea,
ipecac and other crops like rubber and cardamom.

Since
the outbreak of Covid-19, the plantation directorate did receive two
enquires regarding the cinchona. “One was from Uttar Pradesh and the
other from Madhya Pradesh. The quantity was less, for around 200kg and
was probably not meant for mass scale use,” said Rai.

The once
thriving industry is in such a state that the last major sale of
cinchona barks was in 2016. Then, 790 metric tons were sold. The
plantation employs around 6,000 workers and provides indirect sustenance
to 40,000 hill people.

While many believe the Darjeeling
plantation has lost its sheen because synthetic drugs are cheaper to
produce, a section also blames the poor work culture for the sector’s
decline.

“None of the other cash crops is generating enough revenue. Work culture, too, has to improve,” said a retired official.

“Poor
work culture and lack of proper research and development activities,
aggressive marketing and proper linkages affected the plantation,” said
another former employee. “The potential of quinine is there. Apart from
anti-malaria drugs, it is also used in preparing tonic water.”

https://www.telegraphindia.com

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The Darjeeling cinchona plantation, which has been tottering for years because of lack of demand and absence of patronage from the government, is back in the spotlight following US President Donald Trump’s call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine.